Sweet Blog O'Mine

Category: Weblogs

  • It’s 4:30 pm — Time to Get off the Couch

    I’m actually wrapping up this weekend before the weekend’s over, for a change.  After a somewhat draining week at work, I stayed in Friday night, stopping briefly at Von Singh’s for dinner on the way home, then flopping on the couch watching The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring and knitting presents for my brother and my mom.  Exciting, huh?   Actually, it was perfect.

    LatkesSaturday I made up for it, frantically cleaning up my apartment in time for brunch with the lovely ladies who blog.  Now, I generally have a latke party every year, but this year I didn’t plan one, so I took brunch as an opportunity to make latkes, and to use the platter my friend Deb thoughtfully gave me last year (thanks to Nichelle for the photo).  I was so much fun just catching up, eating, and gossiping, and we certainly missed the ladies who weren’t in attendance this time around.

    Next, on to a haircut, then off to dinner with my brother and stepmom at Angon on the Sixth, where I’ve wanted to go for a while, given all the raves on Chowhound.  Unfortunately, I was so full from brunch I could barely eat, and the service was dreadful for some reason.  I’d like to go back and give it another chance.  After dinner, my brother came along with me to my friend Sara’s holiday party out in Fort Greene.  We walked a route from the subway that was new to me, and I have to say that I really liked the neighborhood out there.  The party was lovely, and we bonded with some very friendly folks over the varied and plentiful cheese selection.  I impressed one party-goer, not to mention myself, by pulling out the name of a cheese that was there — an ubriaco.  I had tried one in the past, and enjoyed it so much that I remembered it, and was able to identify it immediately.  We talked food and cheese for a while, then headed back to Manhattan so I could get to my next stop, which was Jake‘s Chanukah party.  Since it was a bit late, I ran into a few people I knew on their way out as I was on my way in, but stayed chatting with my friend Ethan for a while.  Finally, we headed out, and I stopped in for a nightcap at Otto, knowing full well that someone I knew would be there.  And, of course, Nic and Luke were at the bar. 

    Today is a pajama day — I had leftover latkes for brunch, and have been lazing around, reading the paper, chatting on the phone, and am going to head uptown in a bit with my friend Roopa for dinner at our friend David’s.  He’s been threatening to have us over to his new place for a while, and I’m glad we finally managed to pull it together, so we can catch up and taste these chicken tacos he’s been telling us about all this time.

    This week is my last full week of work before a much needed two week vacation.  I can’t wait.  But, have to make it through the week first.  Wish me luck.  Okay — I’m off hit the shower and get out of my pajamas.  At 4:30 in the afternoon — nice job, lazy girl.

  • Thanks for the Link-Love

    MarinaraJust a shout-out to my boy Slice, who added me to his link list recently — want to make sure visitors from New York’s best pizza blog to feel at home, so I bring you two gorgeous specimens: the marinara and the bianca pizza’s from Una Pizza Napoletana, which I hit for the second time last night with Rob, Nic, David, and Mike.

    BiancaUna Pizza only serves one thing, classic, Neapolitan-style pizza, cooked in a wood-fired brick oven, and they offer four varieties, two of which I tasted on my first visit. Now that I’ve had them all, I have to say that my favorite is still the filetti (cherry tomatoes, buffalo mozzarella, garlic, olive oil, basil, and sea salt), followed by the marinara (San Marzano tomatoes, olive oil, oregano, garlic, basil, and sea salt), the bianca (buffalo mozzarella, olive oil, garlic, basil, sea salt), and then the margherita (San Marzano tomatoes, buffalo mozzarella, olive oil, basil, sea salt). Each of us ranked them slightly differently, which just illustrates the variety in palates that are floating around out there. If you haven’t been to Una Pizza (or to Slice, for that matter), you should go as soon as humanly possible.

    And on a non-pizza-related note, thanks to Hugh at Gaping Void for the recent link-love as well.  NOTE: If you’ve come here looking for a picture of my tits, you’re not going to find one.  Sorry.

  • Four-Letter Words We Love

    Publisher: ‘Blog’ No. 1 word of the year.  I can think of several other four-letter words I love more, however . . .

  • Just for Fun

    First, a fun article in the NYT about the perils of dating bloggers,something I have not yet done, courtesy of This Fish Needs A Bicycle (who has been on my Reads o’ Mine for ages).  Second, yesterday was a great day, thanks to The Chocolate Show, D’Artagnan’s black truffle butter, some absolutely spectacular catfish tacos and tomatilla salsa that I made, wine club, and post-wine club festivities with fellow wine club folks, Joe, and Matt, among others.  A special shout out to Rob, who spent a huge chuck of the day an evening with me, which was extra special because it was his birthday.  For an old man (hardly) he certainly managed to stay out until the wee hours.  Today?  Much needed recovery.

    Catfishtacos

  • Blog-o-riffic!

    Last night was one of those multi-event social evenings, but this one had a blog theme going. First a food blogger gathering at in Vino in the East Village (on a side note — if you haven’t been there yet, go. Friendly, helpful staff, and solid, classic antipasti), organized by the delightful Vittles Vamp. Also in attendance were Jeremy of Frost Street and GirlyNYC (all three are my partners in crime at Gothamist Food), Lockhart Steele, and Matt of Bourrez Votre Visage. It was such a pleasure to eat and drink with other foodie types and to meet the folks I hadn’t yet met in person. Thanks again to the Vamp for putting the evening together.

    Next, GirlyNYC and I moved on to our second stop of the evening — the PlanetGordon party, where I got to hang with the famous groom (and bride) and a portion of my Tufts posse. After a brief bit of mixing and mingling, we moved on to the Magician, with Jake and Rion in tow. The bar was full of so many blog-type-folks that it would be futile even to make an attempt to mention them all. I also ran into a fellow AIDS-rider, who I hadn’t seen in a while, there for an unrelated event. I think there were three separate blog or web-related events going on there all at the same time. Not sure why the Magician has become such a blog-centric hangout, but the bartender (who wasn’t Lulu) was sure happy to have us packing the place.

    And of course, all along the way, we kept checking in to Dodgeball, and I even got a personal thanks from the founder (who was at the Magician with everyone else) for being such a loyal user.

    Tonight is Soundtracks Live: Sixteen Candles (being taped for VH1, apparently), and tomorrow are various and sundry parties, so the Maine pictures may not make it up till the weekend, when I have five minutes to breathe . . .

  • A Bicycle Built for Two

    I just returned from a weekend in Oconomowoc, Wisconsin, at the wedding of my dear friends Doug and Leora. Doug I have known for about a decade at this point, and it was several years ago while training for our second AIDS Ride that we both had the pleasure of meeting Leora. It has always been clear that they were a good fit for each other, particularly when he brought her to OJ for the first time to meet our group of college friends. We’re a little hard to bust into from the outside, and I’ve always known that the right guy for me will be one who would fit in at OJ, our annual fall getaway weekend — if he didn’t like the weekend, or my friends, or if my friends didn’t like him, he would be out. I know Doug felt the same way, so when Leora blended in seamlessly, it was like a seal of approval. Training for another ride the following year, I got to know Leora even better as we chatted away the miles (she and I ride about the same pace; Doug’s somewhat faster), and to develop a friendship with her beyond just as “Doug’s girlfriend.”

    Joining them to celebrate their wedding was a reaffirmation of my initial impressions of their relationship — they fit perfectly together, and it was such a treat to take part in a wedding that truly celebrated this fit, filled with love, laughter, joy, friends, family and tears. Congratulations to both of you — enjoy the next leg of the ride.

    119_1995

    You can see the rest of the pictures here, and read PlanetGordon for the backstory on the wedding.

  • The Spectrum

    From Cewebrity! (we love to love ’em) to this (we love to hate ’em):

    fuckingbloggers
    courtesy of Hugh at Gaping Void

    I’m off to Fire Island for the weekend — have a good one!

  • There’s a Party in my Panties!

    And you’re all invited! Join me for “There’s a Party in my Panties!” — an evening of cocktails and vintage lingerie at the Tainted Lady Lounge. Tainted Lady Lounge, 318 Grand Street, Williamsburg, Brooklyn. Thursday, August 19, 2004, 8:00 PM. Sponsored by Hottpants, Nichelle Newsletter, and the Vicar’s Vice. Click here to RSVP and I’ll see you there.

  • Weekend Update

    First of all, wanted to share two articles this week in NYC press that piqued my interest. First, the Village Voice’s Butt Seriously, identifying “white girls with big butts” as the new “in” look. Well that’s a relief. For me, it’s sure cheaper than buying a trendy poncho or one of those maternity-looking tops that seem to be all the rage — I’ve already got one handy. Second, Newsday’s Open Door Policy on doormen hooking up their single tenants. Now, I tip my doormen as much as I can reasonably afford, and I certainly don’t have them pimping for me. Note to self: try to save more cash for holiday tips.

    Last night, I had the pleasure of meeting my “outer” at Lindsay’s blackout anniversary party. He seems to be a pretty nice, laid back guy, despite the goth makeup (he was sort of tricked into wearing goth makeup, actually — some degree of confusion about whether or not it was a costume party. The hostess had a fantastic blonde wig that she wanted to wear . . .). You can see his photo gallery from the party here — and yes, I’m wearing a pink prom dress (the one from New Year’s Eve).

    Today, I’m off to Blues, BBQ & Fireworks to snarf some ribs. Check out Gothamist Food tomorrow for the full report.

    UPDATE: I forgot to mention two more highlights of the weekend, which I wanted to include, at least for posterity’s sake. First, I had dinner at my baby brother’s new crib in Brooklyn — he cooked a kick-ass salmon with a pecan crust (need that recipe). Second, I had a surprise out-of-town visitor who took me to the Lebowskifest at the Knitting Factory. Now, I felt like a bit of a fraud, as I have only seen The Big Lebowski once, but I had a great time nonetheless, with drunk guys (there was about a 4-to-1 male/female ratio) quoting lines all around me. Definitely need to rent that one again soon.

  • I’ve Been Outed

    Yes, it’s true. I’ve been outed. Not sure what to make of this, but as long as it brings in traffic, it’s okay by me.

    Outed C-list cewebrity: Laren Sweet Blog o’ Mine. It’s so weird, it’s like a whole cewebrity subworld going on right before our eyes, yet we can’t see it. They go to the places cewebrities go to, talk about the things cewebrities talk about, but are, like, not cewebrities. They’re just bloggers! Laren fits the self-imposed description of a cewebrity (“I’m a thirty-something, semi-hip, semi-dorky chick living life in NYC. Taking it one day at a time.”), except maybe the thirty-something part, and she’s missing the “Oh, and I AM BETTER THAN YOU and BLOGS ARE SO OVER!” at the end. But mostly. You know. She openly uses (and meets strangers from) dodgeball.com, and even lists “blogging” as one of her interests. It’s like a big breath of fresh air, compounded with the same dull chatter that all of us pollute our bandwith with.

    Badass chick blogger one day, and only a c-list cewebrity the next. Just a blogger. Sniffle. Ah, fame is elusive. Please excuse me while I hurl myself off the Brooklyn Bridge. Wait — maybe a c-list cewebrity is a step up. Hmm . . . the blogosphere is so confusing. I’m sure I’ll figure it out eventually. In the meantime, I’ll see you at Lindsay’s party!